Efforts needed to make EVMs fool-proof: Regional parties

Representatives of regional political parties on Thursday met an expert panel of Election Commission here and reposed their faith in Electronic Voting Machines but said more efforts should be made to make the system fool-proof.

New Delhi: Representatives of regional
political parties on Thursday met an expert panel of the Election
Commission here and reposed their faith in Electronic Voting
Machines but said more efforts should be made to make the
system fool-proof.

Representatives of 16 regional political parties met
the Technical Expert Committee of the Election Commission here
to discuss ways to improve the EVM system.
While some political parties had sent experts
appointed by them to put across their case, some others had
sent their suggestions in writing.

S T Prasad, an expert appointed by the TDP made a
presentation before the EC experts on Voter Verifiable Paper
Audit Trail system developed by his company.

Explaining the system, Prasad said the VVPAT will help
a voter confirm his or her vote by generating a small slip
with the election symbol printed on it once the EVM button to
cast the vote is pressed.
The slip cannot be taken by the voter. It will drop in
a ballot box after giving sufficient time to the voter to have
a look at it through a window, he said.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Velu said
efforts were required to make EVMs tamper proof.

Elangovan said people who claim that EVMs can be
tampered with should prove it before the Technical Expert
Committee. "Otherwise, it looks like propaganda," he said.